Dough and Icing
by randomcat23
Summary: Ron is bored. So bored, Hermione steps in to help keep him occupied. And what better way to ease boredom than baking cookies? Pointless fluff oneshot


This fic may or may not have been posted at all if it wasn't for my friend's gentle demand that I get it done. Ah well, this is how randomcat23 works.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own some nice orange fuzzy slippers.

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"Hermione, I'm bored." Ron whined again. His face was buried in his potions essay which had sat unwritten for the past hour. The unused quill flipped through the red-head's fingers. It then pointed to the ceiling as Ron began counting spots on the wall. 

"Write your essay then." The curt remark came from a witch sitting across the table. Her quill was flying across the page of her own essay, and she was almost done. With a hard tap at the end, it was complete. "Done."

"Where's Harry?"

"I already told you: I don't know." Hermione began to gather up her things and shoved them neatly into her bag. "If you really want to know where he is, go look for him."

Silence, and then, "You wanna help me with my essay?" Apparently, Ron didn't want to do much of anything. Except cheat his way out of writing, of course.

She had seen this method of his too many times to count. He whines, she scolds, he whines, she gets annoyed, he asks for the essay, she writes his essay. It was a never-ending cycle of him using her smarts.

Well, time to break the cycle. An idea just struck Hermione's head. It would cure Ron's boredom and hopefully get him out of her hair. Hesitating, she thought of the consequences. Her hair flew has she shook her head, it was either this or deal with Ron's whining. She just hoped it worked. "Dobby!"

With a _snap_ the over-reactive House Elf appeared in the empty Gryffindor Common Room. His small hand rested on his chest as he bowed. "How can I help Mr. Harry Potter's friend?"

Her knees bent and the intelligent witch came down to Dobby's eye level. "I know it's against the rules, but," she glanced over at a moping Ron, "is it at all possible for us to get into the kitchens?" With a point of her finger she indicated the red-head and herself.

"But of course! Anything for Mr. Potter's friends!" His little hand laced around her finger, pulling her toward the door. "Come quickly, quickly. We mustn't be seen." Hermione gestured swiftly to Ron who leaped up, confused, and followed. The trio swung open the portrait door and stepped quietly into the corridor.

For a Saturday, the corridor sure was empty. No students walked, nor chatted through the halls. Even the pictures were silent, pardon the two circus seals who let out a harmonizing sound. Dobby's sharp eyes glinted around the corner, his hand still clasped around Hermione's finger. "This way," he whispered. And with another tug, he pulled the witch around the corner and ran down the corridor.

Ron jogged behind the elf and Hermione, clueless, but overall glad to get away from the essay. While he was consumed in his thoughts, Ron almost ran into Hermione who was staring at the floor. Skidding, he managed to stop and look down as well.

Dobby was whispering to the large door in front of them. His knuckles knocked three times in five different places. Before Hermione could ask what he was doing, the door opened a crack, just enough for them to slide inside.

They were met with a wave of warmth. Hermione's eyes matched Ron's wide ones as both sets gazed about the large room. House elves ran to-and-fro from one magic stove to another magic oven. Sweet smells of the next meal floated above the young wizards. Dobby grinned at their response.

Gently, Dobby's hands dragged Ron and Hermione to an oven in the far corner. The area was much less crowded, but still within eyesight of the door.

"Ever work a magic stove before?" Dobby asked kindly.

Ron shrugged and Hermione nodded 'no'.

"Works like one of the Muggle's stoves, but it never burns or ruins what you're making. A touch of your wand should set it to the proper temperature and such. Any other questions? Everything you could need is in these cabinets." Lowering his head, Dobby added, "And try to make sure you're out of here within two hours; the meal gets inspected right before dinner starts." And with that the little elf ran off, eager to get back to his job.

Hermione and Ron glanced at each other quickly and grinned. So, first step was done: get to the kitchen. "I still can't believe you of all people thought of this," Ron laughed.

"Oh come on, even I get tired of homework," she proceeded to pull up her hair and look for bowls.

Ron glanced at her sideways, "Are you sure?"

"Don't start taunting me now. Remember, without me you'd still be sitting, drooling over your paper."

A second later, another house elf, one Ron and Hermione didn't recognize, ran up with something in its small hands. "Dobby said for me to give these to you," it squeaked. "Kitchen requirement." As fast as it came, it was gone.

"Hermione, what are they?"

With a sigh and a laugh, the young witch held up the item, "Hairnets!"

Ron's eyes widened, "No way. I'm not wearing a hairnet."

"You have to if you want to stay in here," she was already stuffing her ponytail in the hairnet. Ron laughed continuously. . .until she grabbed his head and stuffed his own red locks into the net.

Now it was Hermione's turn to laugh, "What a wonderful lunch-lady you would make."

Despite himself, Ron asked, "Lunch-lady?"

"Never mind." Hermione picked up a bowl, spoon, knife and any other appliances she thought they needed for cookies. "Help me find the ingredients, Ron." She shooed him to the nearest cabinet, yelling out necessary ingredients. By the time Ron would set down one hand full, Hermione would be demanding for fifty other things.

When Hermione finally seemed to settle down, Ron stopped to catch his breath. "What in bloody hell are we making Hermione?"

"Cookies."

"Cookies?"

"Yes, as in those little things you like to eat so much."

"I know what cookies are!"

"Then stop standing there and start cracking the eggs. We need about six for this recipe. . ." and she trailed off there.

Ron grumbled but set off to find the eggs. Currently they were hiding under the sugar; maybe that wasn't the best place for them. He opened the container slowly and checked all the eggs in fear that Hermione would find them all cracked. Sighing with relief, Ron closed them up and carried them to the sink. Only two eggs sported cracks.

His eyes studied the eggs, was there a proper way to crack them?

"Take a bowl, Ron. And when you crack them open on the bowl let the yoke slide into the bowl."

"I know that!" Ron snapped, but inside was glad that Hermione told him. He had never cracked an egg in his life. He then thought about using his wand to help; it would make it a lot easier! With a grin, he dug into his over-sized pockets and brought out his wand.

At that point, Hermione glanced over and yelled, "Stop, Ron! We're not going to use magic to make these cookies!"

"What? That's stupid. We're already using magic ovens." Ron dropped his wand and scurried to pick it up.

Hermione beat him to it and placed it back in his hands, "Well, we can't help that, it's not like we could run to my house to bake cookies."

"Well, since we're here, we might as well make it easy on us!" Ron raised the wand again, but flinched back as Hermione slapped it out of his hands. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I already told you, no magic!"

"And why not?"

"Cookies are made with love, not magic!"

Ron raised an eyebrow and his head tilted to the side. "What kind of idea is that?"

She blushed, obviously embarrassed with herself, but quickly perked back up. "My mother always said that and that's the way I want to keep it." Short, sweet, and to the point!

Ron's other eyebrow raised to match the other one. With a stifled laugh he went back to cracking the eggs with his hands. Hermione caught the laugh, however, and when she returned to her spot beside him, she hit him on the shoulder.

"Watch it, I might drop this egg."

"Well, you'll just have to be careful," Hermione stated matter-of-factly.

They carried on in silence. It wasn't a good silence, but it wasn't awkward either. They simply carried out their jobs, Ron doing his as Hermione commanded. He watched her as she rolled out the dough; how carefully she worked on it!

"Ron what are you gawking at?"

"Uh, you have . . . dough on your shirt," Ron grinned, pleased with his answer.

"Oh, where?" Hermione spun around, looking.

"It just fell off." A lie, but Ron's smoothness surprised even himself.

"Well, thanks Ron," Hermione smiled. From then on the silence was broken and they were content again. Ron helped Hermione with the dough, and they began cutting out cookies in the shapes of hats and stars. Hermione's wand tapped the oven, automatically setting the oven to the correct temperature as Dobby had said. The two of them than placed the cookies in the oven and waited for their project to be complete. With a 'ding' the oven announced the cookies were done.

"Ron, you start making the icing and I'll lay the cookies out to cool."

The red-head shuffled over to the counter, nearly stepping on another House elf. When another bowl, food coloring, and spoon were in his hands, Ron returned to Hermione. "Here we go."

"You're going to need powdered sugar and milk as well," Hermione reminded him and Ron scurried away to find the two last ingredients. Those cookies were starting to smell really good.

Ron grabbed the milk and sugar, eager to create the icing. He mixed all the things together in the bowl until a white paste was created. "What color did you want the icing, Hermione?"

"Blue."

"Blue?"

"Yes, as in the color of the sky."

"I know! I just wanted to make sure that's what you really wanted."

But both of them laughed at the stupid argument. Ron unscrewed the lid to the food coloring and dropped in the dark liquid. Grabbing the spoon, Ron stirred until the white turned to blue. "Here you go Hermione!" And he placed the bowl in her open hands.

She gladly accepted it and took it to the table. Carefully, Hermione iced each cookie while Ron watched, his hunger growing. When each cookie was iced to perfection, Hermione finished cleaning up and took a seat. A happy sigh escaped her mouth and she picked up one of the desserts and popped it into her mouth. Yummy.

With a glance at Ron, she got another one and offered it to him, but laughed suddenly. "Ron you have flecks of icing all over your face."

"What?"

"They're all over your face."

"Are you kidding me?" Ron furiously rubbed his face with his sleeve.

"No, no, you're missing them all," Hermione grinned again. "Here," and she poked his long nose lightly while handing him a towel.

"Thanks." Within seconds Ron's face was icing-free. "You know, Hermione. It would have been a lot easier just to use magic. They I wouldn't have gotten icing all over myself."

"Oh, Ron, how many times must I tell you? Cookies are made with love, not magic!" And she shoved a cookie into his mouth, laughing.

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Haha. It's a little on the short side, but I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are always appreciated! Thanks for reading! –randomcat23 


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